Page 20 of Dandelions and Smoke

“Can we?” Mr. Man Bun asks Blake, bumping his elbow into him while staring me down.

“I don’t know, Lucas,” Blake replies, raising his brow at me. “I’m not sure I like the way he was eyeing up my little sister.”

“Your sister?!” I gasp, eyes wide as I stop my searching to look at him.

The air between the three of us shifts, putting me on edge. Blake and I are friends, but I wouldn’t say we’re “Hey, it’s okay that I slept with your sister, right?” friends. I’m not sure any friend wants to hear that, actually.

“Yeah, see? I don’t like that look.” The guy whose name is apparently Lucas crosses his arms, and I’m half certain I may walk out of here with a black eye.

“I’m not sure I like him anymore,” Blake grunts out, looking at Lucas.

“I’m right here, you know,” I remind them both as I catch a glimpse of pink dash toward the door.

They both narrow their eyes at me.

“You look way too old to be into my cousin,” Lucas grumbles.

“Seriously? That’s your issue?” I scoff. “I’m thirty-four.”

“Exactly,” they both say in unison.

“I don’t have time for this,” I huff, pivoting quickly to my right and half-shoving Billy, who, for once in his life, has been quiet during this exchange, into them.

I press through the crowd, out the door, and don’t stop until I see her at the bottom of the steps with Ainsley. Relief loosens something tight inside me as I see that I haven’t lost her yet.

“Rory?” Ainsley phrases the name like it’s a question, filled with so much concern that it dawns on me that this isn’t their first time meeting either. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she says too quickly, unbelievable to anyone with ears.

Tris and Levi walk up, joining Ainsley. Everyone is so focused on Rory that no one even notices me standing here, and for the first time tonight, it registers that the only person surprised to see her is me.

“Your name is Rory?” I finally ask, finding my voice, though it comes out in a rasp.

“Ah, shit,” Tris says, recognition flashing across her face, and the way her eyes move between us tells me she knows exactly what’s going on here.

Levi lets out a whistle and lifts his hands.

Even my Captain knew.

I swallow hard before looking away, trying to fight off the squeezing sensation in my ribs as my thoughts race, desperately searching for a way to end this nightmare.

“Do you want to go, Ror?” Ainsley whispers, but I still hear her.

“You know what? Don’t bother,” I huff. “I’m leaving.”

I’m done. Done with this night, done with making a fool out of myself in front of everyone I know, and for now, I’m done trying to get answers. I get into my truck, turn it on, and because I’m nowhere near done with the way I feel about this girl, I look out my windshield to find those electric-blue eyes already staring back at me. It takes everything in me to look away, but once I do, I don’t look back. I head to the station, determined to get answers about what the hell happened tonight, even if I don’t start by getting them from her.

Alone in my office since dawn, I’ve been going over that night, that morning, over and over, like I have so many times these last few months, and can’t stop myself from wondering how I got it so wrong. I woke up the next morning to the smell of her, something warm like vanilla, in my sheets. It wrapped around me like a blanket itself, but when I reached out for her, she was nowhere to be found. I shot out of bed and looked out my windows, but her car was gone. I sank into the bed and lay there, wondering if I’d ever see her again. I know people have one-night stands all the time, but I thought this was more than that.

I know it was.

Was it all in my head? Man, I hope not. I had my first taste of happiness in years, and I don’t want to think that it was all a lie, but after last night, I don’t know what to believe.

Sinking back into my office chair, I drag my hand over my face and go back to staring at the budget proposals for next year. The life of the chief of a fire department isn’t all fires and calls. Most of the time, I’m buried in paperwork up to my eyeballs, and the only fires I’m putting out are the ones under these politicians’ asses. I can’t buy a paperclip without first making sure it’s in the budget. Luckily, we have a pretty good group of folks on our council, so it’s not that big of a deal. But if I can’t pull my head out of my ass long enough to focus, then it might become one.

After another hour or so, I finally move on to paychecks. Soon, it’s time for both crews to come to my office and do their pass-down before the start of the next shift. I’ve been working at the Turtle Bay Fire Department here in the Adirondacks since I was a teenager. I started from the bottom, a volunteer, a probie, while my father was the chief. He ran a tight ship, and though I operate a little differently than he did, he wasn’t exactly the nicest guy. Regardless, everyone liked him, and when he died of a heart attack shy of his sixty-fifth birthday, the whole town paid their respects.

Since then, not much has changed. There are still two crews assigned to a rig, and on rotation, a mixture of volunteers and full-time firefighters are assigned to the department. Our truck runs four deep. We all have our roles and responsibilities. Three EMT-certified firefighters at a time- Mark, Maria, sometimes a volunteer or two, or Billy and Angela, who work as the engineers. Levi is our department’s Captain and also a licensed paramedic. I’m the other paramedic on the team, but since I’m here full-time, I don’t always go out on the calls with the rest of the crew. I don’t have to. I trust my team.